brainpopfandomcom-20200223-history
Helen Keller/Transcript
Transcript Title text reads, The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. Tim and Moby are outdoors at a water pump. Moby pumps the handle and water flows out of the spout. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yes! It’s water! I know! Moby splashes Tim all over, soaking him. TIM: Argh! On-screen, a letter appears. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, why was Helen Keller so famous? From, Elena. TIM: Helen Keller was a deaf and blind woman who overcame her disabilities to become an accomplished author and activist. An image of Helen Keller is shown: she is a woman in her 40s with short brown hair. Moby splashes Tim with water from the pump. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, if you’ll stop splashing me for a minute, I’ll tell you. Helen Keller was born in a small town in Alabama, in 1880. An image shows Keller beside a map of the United States. A dot in Northeast Alabama shows the location of Tuscumbia, Alabama - Keller's birthplace. TIM: A serious illness left her permanently deaf and blind at only 19 months old. An image shows Keller as a young child, standing in front of her house. Her surroundings suddenly fade to black. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, doctors couldn’t really figure out what the illness was. But it left Helen terrified and confused. She couldn’t understand what was going on around her, and she couldn’t express her feelings. An image shows a young Keller appearing in front of a black background, looking afraid and unsure. TIM: It was like she was trapped in a prison of darkness and silence. The screen fades to black. TIM: She reacted like any scared kid would - with temper tantrums and outbursts. An image shows young Keller in her family's living room. She is angry and crying. Her parents look on with confusion and concern. TIM: Her mother tried to find a tutor who could help Helen learn to get along in the world. Eventually, she found a young woman named Annie Sullivan. Sullivan had had a tough childhood of her own. She lost most of her eyesight at age five, and she and her brother grew up in a state home for orphans. But she got a good education at a school for the blind in Massachusetts. An image shows Annie Sullivan. She has short, dark hair and a strong jaw. TIM: When she went down to Alabama, she was just 20 years old, and young Helen was only six. An image shows a worried Sullivan and a young, angry Keller appearing together. TIM: At first, things were rough. Sullivan sometimes had to physically fight Helen to get her to behave! An image shows Sullivan physically holding Keller back against a wall as Keller lashes out with her arms and screams. TIM: But she also spent time teaching her the manual alphabet. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Well, basically, she would use her finger to spell letters out onto Helen’s palm. An image shows Sullivan's hand drawing four letters onto the palm of Keller's hand. The letters A, B, C, and D, appear above each one. TIM: One day, the two were outside, at a water pump. Sullivan was pumping water onto Helen’s hand, and spelling the word “water” onto the other. All of a sudden, something clicked in Helen’s mind. An animation shows Sullivan and Keller standing at a water pump. Keller's left hand is under the water, as Sullivan draws a word into Keller's right palm. Suddenly, Keller begins smiling. TIM: She understood the connection between the word "water" and the water itself. An image shows Keller against a black background. The word "water" appears above her head. The word quickly takes on the blue, rippling quality of water. Her expression from before has changed to a pleasant expression. TIM: Once she began to understand words, Helen could start understanding the world around her. Just a few days after the incident at the water pump, she learned thirty new words in just a few hours! An animation shows more words above Keller's head: "mother", "father", "teacher", and "sister". TIM: Soon, Sullivan taught her how to read, first with raised letters, and then with braille, a writing system for the blind made up of raised dots. Keller even learned to type, on both braille and regular typewriters! An image shows four braille letters appearing. They are labeled A, B, C, and D. MOBY: Beep? TIM: Sullivan became Keller’s constant companion and teacher. Together, they continued Keller’s education at schools in Massachusetts and New York City. An image shows an older Keller and Sullivan in a classroom. They hold hands as Sullivan reads a book to Keller. TIM: And in 1904, Helen Keller graduated from Radcliffe College - becoming the first deaf and blind person ever to graduate from a university. An image shows Keller, wearing a graduation cap and gown, sitting and holding a diploma. MOBY: Beep! TIM: Yeah, but it’s nothing compared to what happened next. Helen Keller became a celebrated author! Over her lifetime, she wrote 12 books and numerous magazine articles. An animation shows Keller typing on a typewriter. TIM: Eventually, she learned to read and write in 5 languages! Keller and Sullivan toured the world, telling their story, giving lectures, and answering questions about their lives. An image shows Keller and Sullivan on a stage together. TIM: Sullivan passed away in 1936, but Keller kept on going. MOBY: Beep? TIM: What did she do? Well, quite a bit! She visited 39 countries and befriended kings, queens, presidents, artists, writers, and activists along the way! An image shows Keller in the White House, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy. TIM: Everywhere Keller went, she raised money on behalf of causes that helped the disabled, and raised awareness of the hardships faced by blind and deaf people. She was politically active, and wrote, lectured, and campaigned against social inequality. An image shows Keller as an older woman, with short grey hair and a peaceful expression. TIM: By the time of her death in 1968, Helen Keller was one of America’s most famous people. She came to symbolize the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Several images from earlier in the movie appear, including Keller smiling at the water pump, Keller graduating from college, Keller at a typewriter, and Keller shaking hands with President Kennedy. TIM: After all, if a woman who’d been deaf and blind since childhood could accomplish so much - well, so could anybody! ' Moby splashes Tim with water. '''TIM: Argh!Category:BrainPOP Transcripts